Arctic char facility proposes six country residential lots

Six country residential lots proposed to open up on Fish Lake Road won't require the environmental review other residential developments are going through.

Six country residential lots proposed to open up on Fish Lake Road won’t require the environmental review other residential developments are going through.

City council gave first reading to a bylaw Monday night that would change the Official Community Plan designation of an 11-hectare piece of land owned by Icy Waters from open space to residential country.

The city and territory are bound to have their developments reviewed by the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act, but as a private development on private land, the proposal by Icy Waters won’t have to be reviewed by the YESA board, council was informed.

“No YESAB review would be required as there is no development of public land, money received from government, or the trigger of any other criteria,“ it’s noted in a May 20 report to council.

Planning manager Mike Gau noted things like tree clearing, plans for water distribution systems and other initiatives could trigger the YESA review, though this case has none of those triggers.

It wouldn’t be feasible to put city services into the new lots, noted the report to council.

The 11 hectares sit on the 75-hectare property the company owns as part of its aquaculture facility and none of the areas have been identified as being environmentally sensitive, it was pointed out.

Five of the proposed sites would sit next to Fish Lake Road, directly across from Pumphouse Pond.

The remaining lot would be near the fish farm next to Haeckel Hill Road and kept by the current owners, notes a report to city council.

After passing first reading Monday night, a public hearing on the OCP amendment will be held at the July 14 council meeting with a report on the hearing to then come forward on July 28.

Third reading is expected to come forward in August, pending approval from the territorial level.

After that, Icy Waters would have to go get the properties rezoned for the project to continue.

“If the OCP amendment is accepted, the applicants could apply for RC1 - Country Residential zoning - as all proposed lots would be greater than one hectare in size,“ reads a May 20 report to council.

“The applicant has indicated that he is only interested in creating a limited number of larger country residential lots and would not
apply for RC2 zoning, which permits lots as small as 0.5 hectares.“